Crystals
by No Line on the Horizon
Summary: They say that sometimes a loved one can bring out the dignity and best in people. She knew this already, and it is her loved one that is the driving force within her. Welcome to a story of the conquest of her destiny.
1. Prologue

Here we go again!

Yep this is the beginning of the sequel to The Disease of a Thousand Words, sort of significant to me. The best part is that I'm starting the story with better writing technique than when I started Part I. Meaning that I expect this to be even better so to speak.

Now the main focus of the story is going to be on Amy, who she's paired with exactly is going to be a mystery, it will be better seen in the middle of the story. And Shadow and Marine will play a role in this as well.

So everybody who liked Part I, get ready because here is Part II. It's title is different.

And this is just a prologue, it sort of sums up part I in a chapter, but technically it isn't one.

Enjoy!

Crystals (Heart of Love)

Prologue 

Life can be something that is purely indescribable, there are times where words don't grasp the gist of it's precious value. There are times where even our own actions fail at doing this, being able to portray what life really is, and how much of an significance it possesses.

Forlornly, the earth has to be inhabited by creatures that are continually unsuccessful at determining the real importance of existence. This failure to comprehend turns them towards the so called evils of society, and they resort to inflicting hurt and hardship against their fellow species.

Praise is for the ones who stand up against the enemy, however this isn't always the case. There are positions of time in which others will become so impaired from the evils thwarted against them where they just are incapable of coping with it. This sequentially aids in the creation of more evil and sin to be simple in speaking of.

Without overly speaking, the clash between the good and evil therefore ceases to come to a close, and never can their be a prediction that one day all sinner and their indulgences will vanish one day.

Because as we all know, this would be a complete and udder lie in the eyes of all, yes including the evil.

Let's take an example of a good and evil battle shall we?

On one side, we have the mobian team of Sonic and friends, against the evil of a scientist know by his two different names, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or by what Sonic the Hedgehog normally uses, Dr. Eggman, as we know is in conjunction with his rather odd size and shape.

Now, this happened to be one of the battles in which the superior ones were always good, and the defeated was the evil. There were some occasions where the evil did get a minuscule of a win, for instance an injury to a fellow mobian. That was the only exception.

Until now.

If you would ask any person who assists in the struggle against the doctors' malevolence, they all can inform you that it never gets easier, but only increasingly difficult.

Because most villain don't become dimmer, in fact, they continue to increase in their intelligence. Every plan of theirs' that fails, only causes them to learn about what went wrong, and this then supports in how they can improve for the future. It ends up only making them stronger, which in turn has to happen for the good side as well.

But… sometimes this works more towards the benefit of the evil, while being lesser to the good.

And this leads up to a story of two members of the good side. One was a female hedgehog, the other a male vulpine. According to the paths of life that both were itinerant upon, it so happened that their pathways did cross at a point. This being the period of time where the pair fell hands over heels over one another, and finally becoming a couple.

What was not known to the kitsune, nor to anybody else but the doctor, as well as the hedgehog, was that evil was finally going to reign supreme over good this one time, and maybe start the dynasty of an epoch, one that had evil sitting pretty on top. That the hedgehog had been contracted with a fatal disease, given to her with regards from Mr. Ivo Robotnik himself.

This in response gave the side of the good it's most intricate problem yet, a disease that nearly was deemed impossible to save her from.

And here is the return of life, and how beautiful, how valuable, and how much of a miracle it could be. That kitsune, the same one who was enamored with the hedgehog, made it a promise to her that he would save her life, no matter whatever privations came, and no matter what came to try and come between him and his goals.

With aid from his fellow acquaintances, the kitsune did all that was in his ability. He traveled miles in search of what he wanted to deem was the cure, an impeccable substance known as the chaos dust, it's rarity making it almost unfeasible to locate.

And his journey ended in what we would assume was disaster, as he came face to face to the same being who contradicted his lover with the disease. Only that he discovered that not only was it not him, rather another handiwork of the evil side, the same side who were unbelievers of how precious the existence of life really was. And wretchedly, he found out that this chaos dust, the lone cure, was not in the clutches of the evil, and he had been rightfully tricked.

But even in his mind, not all hope was gone, that there was the most minuscule amount of hope left. It was the equivalent of a glimmer of gold inside a mile long cave, or a drop of cold aqua in the blazing, desiccated deserts. And he was determined to use it, his only chance at her survival.

And that was the fateful day that Miles Tails Prower passed away, but however for a cause.

And it was his life that in turn saved the female he loved and treasured so dearly, she was the family he never got to have.

And now she knew it, she knew what she was going to have to do the second his body was shown to her. He may not be down with them now, but Miles is watching from the heavens, continuing to use that small amount of hope to pray for Amy.

Now it was her turn, it was time for amethyst Rose to fulfill her destiny, and rid the world of the evil… in honor for Miles Tails Prower.

And if you asked her.

She was ready.


	2. Balance is Key

Yeah okay, it was sort of short.

But this will be much longer, promise.

*note, this takes place a couple days after the final chapter of part I.

Oh and an OC is in the story, check out my profile for info.

Crystals (Hearts of Love)

Chapter I

_Tick, tick, tick, tick…_

Was it only me, or did time seem to get progressively slower and slower?

Sonic persuaded me to depart and take a few days to myself, hoping it would help out with the damage already caused to my ailing heart. Initially I didn't believe that it would help but my cobalt friend promised that it would aid in the calming of my mind, so I went with his judgment and advice. I didn't know that something that seemed so easy to comprehend, could be so easier said than done. Oh, and I was really getting exasperated with people always promising things to me, I didn't need anymore of them.

I've be struggling with life itself over the past few days, thoughts of Tails were present in my mind relentlessly, and the more I attempted to get him out of my mind, the added thoughts that accumulated in my mind. He also mentioned that it didn't help that I was actually staying in Tails' home, but when I was at his home, I always felt a presence of him in it, though he wasn't there. And instead of making me miss him, it actually calmed me down relatively a deal.

But I had a lot more on my mind still, one was the fact that Eggman was still out there, and was progressing in his plan for world domination. Usually it was us who were always winning without much quandary or concern.

But what he seems to be doing is making it appear like he actually is in the winners seat, something that almost never happened, ever.

And now I might be in the most vital position in my entire life.

Sonic wanted me to lead the invasion of Eggman's army. Me… the girl he's advised before to stay behind while he and everybody else would go and fight Eggman and his latest scheme. Now, Sonic the hero himself, is asking me to lead the incursion.

I didn't answer him all too quickly, in fact, I hadn't given him a clear cut reply to his question yet. All I knew for sure now is that I would fight in it, not lead it!

Frustrated out of my mind I wandered out of his room, which is where I had been sleeping the past couple days, and made my way outside. Optimistically, maybe a bit of cool fresh air could settle myself down. I seriously swear that I was going to go insane if I didn't get that question out of my mind.

My head began to throb as I stepped out onto the patio behind the home, and the sudden pain resulted in me having to take a seat on a chair conveniently placed upon it. I could feel the sudden surge of cool, moist air fill my lungs, and it was so good, it felt like a rush of energy to the body.

The wind was quite strong today, I could tell by feeling and that a silver set of wind chimes hanging off the overhang of the roof was violently shaking in jumbled directions. Instead of the sweet and soothing sounds of a light breeze on them, they were smacking hard against one another, sending out uneven blasts of noise that echoed throughout the vicinity.

I held my head in my hands, ruffling my hair once again, like I could give a damn about my appearance right now. One quick look and easily you could notice the messy hair, bloodshot eyes, and the way I wandered about looked as if I was mixed with somebody tired and another half drunk. Insomnia could be blamed here, as I haven't gotten more than 2 hours of sleep since the incident, and I refused to use medication, it wasn't natural in my eyes.

I stared up into the sky, at least I had something admiring to view all by my lonesome. Fluffy white clouds dotted the canvas like blue, as if it was a painting. They were all different shapes, one of them happening to be five times larger than it's companion.

And in gazing through the sky, my mind drifted to the thoughts of what Eggman was really up to, and how many mobians were already either hurt or injured, or worse, killed. Sonic's already reasoned with me not to blame myself, although I did for the actuality that if I didn't take so long on deciding, maybe we could have been able to save a couple lives, people who deserved to live.

I let out a soft sigh, oh Tails I miss you so much, I can even begin to describe. Hey, maybe he'll meet that guy he always used to mention when he worked on, oh what was his name?... Oh yeah, Isaac Newton, he made all these theories of some sort. Sometime when I would stop by he'd would commence on chatting about him, I would stand in place and just roll my eyes.

I smiled lightly to myself, the cold air did wonders, no doubt why I always used organic stuff. Now determined on my decision to what I desired to do, I made my way back inside to give a certain cobalt hedgehog a much overdue call.

…

Full velocity I ran towards the machine, fists raised, and screaming as I made my charge to destroy the doctor's latest creations. With a swift strapping punch to the head of the machine, I admired my vigor as it's head shattered into bits ad pieces of wire and metal that got strewn across the ground beneath my feet.

"It's a little too silent here Knux, where did they all go?"

"Not sure, keep on your toes," I addressed my partner Ryan. We became acquaintances only a couple days ago as we were fighting side by side, and we enjoyed combating with one another. He himself was just as strong as me, very slick guy who can control ice, yeah I thought it was cool too. His agility is what got me though, he'd constantly move prior to me laying a hand down. Together, we created one hell of a team.

I continued trotting forward on the damp earth, anxious for whatever attempted to fly out at me. Still though I failed at hearing any movement other than my own, and Ryan's of course. He was mirroring my movements, thought heading in the opposite direction.

"… Oh Shit!"

I jerked around at the echo of his exclamation, only to be grabbed by another bot, and tossed like a toy. Hurdling through the air, the flesh on my back smashed against a study oak tree, sending waves of pain searing up my spine while a scurry of leaves showered across my face as I slumped to the ground. Slowly, I rose up to meet the machine eye to eye as it began hustling towards me, arms out ready to puncture me with it's jagged claws.

It was only a few feet when I made a vigilant decision to jump up using the tree, and land on it's head and beat it that way. Only however when I did jump, I landed back on the ground, and watched as Ryan boarded his merry way over, and performed one swift wave of his arm. Dozens of sharp knife-like ice crystals sped away from it's origin, and it only took mere seconds before I heard the sound of puncturing metal.

There stood the same machinery, only this time it's eyes blinked and flashed a few occasions, and it fell over, smashing it's usually powerful front armor into pieces that littered the ground. Ryan jumped off his board which transformed back into it's regular cell phone size, to which he stuck in his back pocket.

"He's all yours," He said with a chuckle, directing our attention towards our microscopic victory, but hey we were able to destroy a few of them.

I walked right over and with one effortless movement tore off the head of the once functioning robot. Vigilantly I used my brut strength to open up the inside metal cavity, which looked to contain many wires that went in all dissimilar directions. Brushing those aside, I finally discovered what I had been searching for. There laid a small but very valuable piece of technology, the hard drive.

"Here, this might help."

I looked up to see Ryan with his serious expression on now, and a knife like piece of ice in his palm.

"Thanks," I answered, and picked up the slice of ice. But only a minute after having the ice now palmed in my hand, I looked to use it finding out that it had melted just like that.

For a second we both stared at one another.

"Hot head."

The two of us burst out into laughter, it was sort of odd in Ryan's case, as I hadn't seen him be much more than serious since I met him.

Ryan gave me a little nudge, letting me know to move out of the way.

"I'll get this, it won't melt in my hands after all. Rouge must be pretty accurate with describing you as a hot head though."

We shared a few more chuckles while he proceeded in snipping the wires connected to the hard drive of the machine, making sure not to inflict any damage upon the drive itself. If that happened, we might lose precious information that we needed to help us learn more about the robots that Eggman was building in mass amounts.

It did help that Ryan decided to handle the ice, as he as an oddly cooler body temperature unlike most, but even more odd it that on the outside he relatively doesn't feel much cooler than the rest of us.

After a couple short and precise minutes, Ryan pulled out a silver box, it had a label attached to the side with jumbles of numbers on it. Like I was going to know what any of this meant, I was the polar opposite of technology savvy, for the fact that I ceased to use any of that kind of stuff anyway.

"I got it, now lets go."

With our item in toe, we progressed to see a feline who could help us with the analyze of the technology.

…

It was a straightforward, simple mission that he had to perform. All he required to do was get in to the main room of Eggman's base, pop the special coded portable driver, and copy all the info into it. For somebody with Sonic's capabilities, this was almost nothing to the cobalt colored hedgehog.

But the amount of emotional, as well as mental strain that Sonic was carrying along with his own body weight, was making every single move and act he did feel heavier, and more difficult. His will to do all his normal heroic duties took a nosedive, for with an assignment like so he would always have his buddy right by his side, ready to back him up if needed.

And here he was now on the outskirts of the base, the only companion to his lonely self was the computer driver that hung on a black rope from his neck. That and the chirping of a cluster of grasshoppers hidden within the wild foot tall grass on the ends of the forest. Well, you couldn't exactly say that it was the actual edge of the forest, rather that it was the edge to a secluded area of open land that was dotted with small shrubs.

Sonic was kneeling on a solitary knee, imprints of the grass was made onto his blue skin. He was checking the surroundings with awareness, making sure that it was abandon of the doctor, as well as most of the guard bots. As expected, there happened to be a few around the borders of the enormous building, but nothing he couldn't handle. In fact, he could just sneak right in without them even having a hint of his presence.

He didn't make a move quite yet, first he grabbed something out of his pocket and held it in his palm. It happened to be a picture of him an Tails the first day they flew the refurbished Tornado. The pair were both smiling brightly, each one wearing flying goggles as they wanted to take their foremost flight without the glass cover on top of the plane. Sonic palmed the picture gently, and from a stand point you can notice a droplet fall onto the kitsune's face, that coming from the blue blur himself.

"I miss you buddy…"

Slipping the cherished photo memoir of his what he would call little brother, Sonic trekked his way towards the door, moving at a rapid enough pace to clear all the robots before they were even able to make a 90 degree turns. Once inside the doors, he kept his back along the inside part of the double doors, for he feared all the little equipment that was hanging along the walls.

Yep, cameras, loads of them all diagonal from one another against the bland cardboard gray walls of the corridors. All different angles they moved, it seemed impossible to get by all of them without something happening that would set off alarms. Sonic knew this, and was going to make perfectly sure that this would cease to happen, the last thing he wanted on his mind was how to escape an Eggman created cell.

However, he had a pretty neat idea that could work out well. Glancing up at the cameras, he observed that there was quite a bit of room between them and the ceiling. Carefully, he made a huge leap with aid from the wall, and got a foot onto the top of the camera. He began hopping from camera to camera, balancing his weight cautiously so that he would put too much pressure onto the camera itself. It also helped that his speed made him have the ability to go to 4 cameras within 3 seconds.

But suddenly in leaping to the second to last one from another door, Sonic missed his step, and fell stiffly onto the tile floor, which was not unforgiving. And as soon as one of those cameras saw the familiar hedgehog, every single one focused their attention onto him.

And then came the alarms… those blazing, earsplitting, screeching alarms.

Sonic scrambled onto his two feet, and began to sprint towards his destination.

He knew he only had minutes now.

…

Not bad for a first chapter I suppose, I have a bunch of plot ideas coming about that I can't wait to use.

Please give me an honest review, and see you next chapter.


	3. Betrayal

Wow, thank you everybody for the positive feedback so far, I really appreciate it.

And about Ryan, don't worry, he won't be a "Gary stu" as M2 put it. He actually will play a big role in the story further on.

Oh and I've figured out that some of my stories are tied together idea wise, even though they are completely different from one another.

So here's chapter 2.

Crystals (Hearts of Love)

Chapter II

"Hmm, wonder what Sonic is up to."

I was wandering through the woods, having just called Sonic at my own home, only to receive no pick up on his part. But in remembering that he was going on a quick mission, I ended up phoning Blaze instead, just to make sure that he was doing this. She told me it would be quick, and that Sonic personally told her that he would come to check up on me as soon as he was done.

That happened to be nearly 3 hours ago, and I was worried about him, I figured Blaze might know something about where he was, so I made it my duty to go and check.

I assumed that the strong breezes from early on had died down, but when I went to open my front door, I had it blown back into my face.

"Stupid wind, I better get a coat then."

I heard a slight squeak, and in looking down, realized that I had a bloody nose, and that my blood was causing the streak upon my floor. There was a lengthy red streak across my wood floor, part of it in the shape of a footprint, since it had been my foot in the first place.

I strode to my bathroom, my head pointed up so that at least I would avoid having to clean up more of my already stained floor. Twisting both of my sink handles, I grabbed a extra washcloth that I had stored in a cabinet aside from the sink, figuring that I would be throwing it out after using it. Soaking the towel, I wiped up my face up, the water turning red as I wrung out the towel within the sink.

My face was clean now, only for there to be blood now around my neck, and down my shirt. Annoyed that I now needed to get a new shirt, I tore it over my head, and took the same washcloth to wipe my neck area.

In examining my appearance in the mirror over my sink, I looked so much different now that it seemed really awkward for myself even. Overall, I was much skinnier now prior to the illness, in fact I even looked a bit too skinny. Yeah, I was going to maybe go on a short diet before that event, but what I ended up going through wasn't the kind of diet I had in mind.

On top of all of this, my overall muscle mass was very low, and I actually could tell I was weaker. If I was going to lead an invasion like Sonic described to me, I had to get in shape for it, maybe doing some exercising in Station Square's gym later. I was even a little happy too, I could enjoy all the foods I loved without agonizing, I needed to gain weight after all.

I put my shirt back on, I already looked for any stains, thankfully there were none, so nothing to worry about there. Grabbing a light windbreaker, I made my way outside, I had to take a train to find her, as the place she was at happened to be quite distant from where I was.

Blaze was doing all her work from an abandon building in the outskirts of the city. Silver, her, and the Chaotix were responsible with turning the place into a HQ sort of place. However once they finished, Silver was required to return to his and Blaze's dimension, mainly to take her position as a leader, since she wasn't around. I have no idea what happened to Charmy and Vector, I was sure that Espio remained to help, as for a ninja, he happened to be very "technologic savvy" Blaze described him as.

Upon arriving at the train station, the breezes finally ceased to whirl, thank god. It was getting really chilly and I thought my windbreaker might have not been enough to keep in my warmth.

But something seemed off, I couldn't figure out what, but I just could sense it.

"So you're gonna take his offer right?"

No way… No, No, No

"Tails?"

I turned to my right, and there before my eyes was a orange two-tailed fox, one that she had missed so greatly, one that she fell in love with.

"Yep, who else could it be?"

I grabbed my Bluetooth headset out of my pocket and quickly stuck it in my ear, I couldn't make it look like I was talking to myself, I'd look like a psychopath, which I didn't want. But still, Tails is standing in my view, and I'm guessing that I was the only one able to see him.

"Um, I… I don't know."

"You're not happy to see me, right?" He asked me, a frown appearing on his face.

"No! Not at all! I'm, well, just shocked right now. Tails I mean we all knew it, you were dead."

We were in silence for a moment, and how awkward a moment that was.

"… But not to you."

He knew my mind like the blueprints to his Tornado. I actually never did believe that he was dead, rather that his human form was gone, while his soul remained on earth with me, after all it was his life that saved mine.

"I know, but, I tried so hard to go on, in your sake. And you come back. I, I can't even say whether I want you around or if I do."

Tails seemed shocked with this almost refusing-like gesture coming from me like that. It's not that I didn't want him around, oh god I really wanted him with me still, but another side of me screamed at me to finally let him go, to just continue of with my life.

"So you're intentions of doing this in for it to be in my honor?"

"Yes… I intend to eliminate what killed you, and that is Eggman." I stated in pride, sort of at least.

He smiled, proud of me it seemed.

"Alright Amy, before I go for now, remember these numbers. 1,3,2,4,8"

I stared at him, puzzled, but obeying in what he desired me to know. Maybe it was a secret code that would help me out in the future.

"Oh and Amy?"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You missed your train."

…

"This seems like a waste of our time, are you sure it'll help?" Ryan asked us, the third time, each time his patience wearing down gradually. Come to think of it, he didn't possess much to begin with.

"It'll see how it's programmed, making it easier to defeat them." Blaze answered him, she appeared to be getting quite the bit irritated with him.

"Whatever, call me over when your is finished."

Ryan walked off, and took a seat on the couch, his arms folded over his chest.

"Alright, I got the drive loaded… wait, what's this?"

We watched as it said loading video, which was unexpected as it was suppose to load to a password box, which Blaze could override.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared onto her main computer, only this time his attire was different.

"You guys are very, very clever. Well, to an extent."

The doctor was wearing a suit, yes, an actual black suit. In fact, he looked like an overweight businessman that owned a corporation of some sort. He even got his signature mustache trimmed and his hair was recently cut neatly.

"You were looking for the hard drive, and thought that this was it? Wrong, you got this instead."

Ryan had gotten off the couch by now, and was watching this with the rest of us.

"Here's what I want to let you know. What my plan has become, it's even more than I ever dreamed. Any previous attack you guys were able to stop, well, they don't even measure up with this.

In fact not even your blue speed demon can stop me now. You had plenty of chances, but instead of attempting to stop me, you worried over the life of your pink friend.

And one of them ended up dying anyway, poor Tails, he was a nice lad. Actually it seemed stupid of you to let him die, he has plenty of brainpower you could have used."

By now I was being restrained by Ryan from assaulting the screen, he dared talk about Tails.

"Now I leave you with this one message, and it's important so listen up.

I will completely halt all my activity, just stop my plan, if you hand me over Sonic.

Your thinking, I know, oh I'm gonna kill him like always. But I'm not. He will remain alive, and in good health.

Return this drive with the answer written on the side to my base if you would like to take the offer.

If not, I bid you farewell, and good luck, you'll need it this time."

The tape went black, and turned into fuzz.

Blaze, Ryan and myself looked at ourselves, none of us having any clue onto what we were going to do now.

It was going to have to be up to Sonic on this one.

…

He desperately started speeding down corridors, not looking where he was going, but panicking over an exit. Sirens continued to wail away, pain filling the ears of the hedgehog up to the brim, but ignoring it completely in his search for an exit out of this base.

However, his intelligence finally screamed to him that he should stop and give it some thought, running around every hallway seeking an exit that you have no idea where it was located is not the best idea.

"Alright, calm yourself Sonic, now if I go in one direction, maybe I can find an exit."

So this time, instead of sprinting up and down the bases corridors, he did a slower jogging pace, enough where it would be quite fast for anyone else, except him. Never had he been in an such a confusing place before, every corridor went into another direction, or branched out into two or three more halls. He could only imagine how Eggman remembered where all of his gadgets and things were located without getting lost like he was.

As he maneuvered the random halls, all of a sudden the alarms subsided. He questioned this as first, but his short term memory kicked in, informing him that Eggman was busy with his fleet, and wasn't in the building.

But was there anyone else guarding the place for him?

It was a stubborn thought that plagued the others tied around his idea of escaping this damned base, he could come to retrieve his precious information another time, maybe at night when it was quieter. To his memory, Blaze had already told him that going during the day wasn't the best of plans to use. And with Sonic's stubbornness, surly he would completely erase that suggestion from his thoughts.

Then he froze… and listened carefully.

Chirping… which obviously meant birds, which also meant he was closer to freedom.

Step by step, the cobalt hedgehog continued on his path towards the nosily chirping of certain birds, making sure not to make too much racket with his walking, for he was relying on the sound of them for his escape. Louder and clearing they became, till he was face to face with a wall.

A wall? Concrete?

Sonic looked down the current hallway he was currently in, and to his disappointment, not a single door was against this wall. He knew how close he was, the grass and the forest he was just in earlier had to be on the exterior of that wall. Knowing Eggman though, he wouldn't dare attempt to break through this, he could cause some serious damage physically if he did.

He didn't have to worry about inflicting damage upon himself if he tried to break out, for unexpectedly one of his guard bots slammed a tight metal fist into the back of the hedgehog, sending his face first into the cold concrete. Blood spurted from his lip, making a vivid red mark upon his chin, and furthermore angering the already stressed out hedgehog.

Sonic turned and punched the gut of the robot full force, insensible of the pain it caused, and sent it flying back, only for it to be able to land on two feet again. As a counterattack, it whipped an automatic shotgun and began hunting down Sonic, whom was retreating down the corridor he was in beforehand.

"Grrr, go away!"

He turned back to look at the guard bot who was far behind now as his bullets were missing his target, strange for Eggman to have a default like that on one of his inventions, but Sonic wasn't complaining.

He should have actually been watching were he was going, as he ran right into the chest of another guard bot. This one was a copy, but began spitting flames out of it's hand, barely missing Sonic by mere inches. He could feel the radiating heat swept by his body by the near miss of the flames.

Barely dodging the flamethrower, Sonic spun into the first guard bot from before, smashing it to pieces, some of which that got caught in his fur sending a couple pain shocks to his brain. He began to run the other way, away from the robot, who continued pumping flames in his general direction, though none were reaching him anymore.

Seeing one of the gray doors next to him shot an idea towards his brain. Swiftly, he knocked the door off it's hinges, and took it out of the frame it once was in. Holding it as if it was a shield, Sonic charged full force at the flame spitting robot, blocking all it's scorching flames using the door as a handy device in keeping himself free from burns. Using his unbeatable speed, Sonic pushed the robot so that it was cornered by the door, and wedged it place.

He had to remove his hands, as the metal door had become so blistering hot that even the smallest of a touch to it would deliver third degree burns effortlessly. Soon one could see that the stubborn, and rather stupid robot continued to spray fire, unknowingly engulfing itself in them. Sonic backed away from the corner as more and more flames increasingly spluttered from the robot's vicinity. And eventually.

KABOOM!!

"Gotcha."

The guard bot had indeed been dumb enough to try and continually spray it's fire at Sonic, unknowingly that with his trapped under the door, he was overheating himself, and causing an explosion.

Sonic stood there admiring his strike of brilliance, although maybe for a few seconds too long. He felt a prick on the back of his neck, and questionability reached to see what it was.

And what he felt was a syringe, one that had already been used…

On him.

He fell onto his knees, his muscles growing progressively unresponsive with every second that passed.

He then heard footsteps, and a familiar shadow on the floor in front of his now half opened eyes. It looked like somebody he did know, thought the weakened hedgehog couldn't exactly put a finger onto who that really was. But it wasn't who he was thinking.

The person chuckled as it observed the defeated hedgehog lying on the ground before it, unable to have any movement of it's body, with the exception of it's head.

"How unexpected that we meet each other again."

…

Woo ending it on a cliffy again, I do this too often XD.

Please send me your thoughts on the chapter.


	4. Katana

**Isn't summer just awesome, well, excluding the heat, but I have a pool so it's all good!**

**So here is the next installment.**

Crystals (Hearts of Love)

Chapter III 

"You evil son ova bitch!"

Shadow just gave a cold piercing glare directly into the clear pools of blue that happened to be Marine's eyes. She shivered at the sight of his fierce look, it had been the same look that he had given to her before she had been drugged.

Marine and him actually had decided to take the day off from clue hunting on Eggman's army's whereabouts to spend some quality time together. The raccoon was so excited, as they hadn't really gotten much one on one time with one another.

Little did she know that his love affair with her, it was a trap, and she had plunged directly headfirst into his plan. He had drugged her drink, and managed to take her all the way into Eggman's base, whom he had access to from Eggman himself.

Marine awoke before he reached the room however, and made desperate attempts at escaping from his taut grasp, and nearly was able to get away.

She was even less than a threat now however, as her wrists were tightly chained up to a wall, making her immobile and helpless. But being the arrogant courageous girl she was, that didn't stop her from trying to insult the ebony hedgehog.

"What did ya do ta him? Is he dead?"

He smiled at her, this time it was Marine's turn to glare, although her's had absolutely no effect on Shadow, he just overlooked her question entirely.

Her wrists were beginning to kill her, as her skin had been irritated considerably due to the grooves in the metal of the walls. The room itself looked like a combination of a small lab with a criminal questioning room, seemed like it could be used for multi purposes. The blue hedgehog before her was on what looked like a hospital bed, various items surrounded him, including wires, many wires. She noticed them attached to his head, and suddenly realized what he was going to do.

_He's gonna shock him_,She thought, and indeed Marine was right.

"NO! Don't! Shadow please!!"

This time he was willing to give a response. "Don't worry, this stuff is only if he decides not to comply."

Shadow grabbed a rather tiny syringe that had been lying on a small metal tray that was atop a counter, more various objects were next to it. With a quick thrust of his arm, he plunged the needle into the bicep of Sonic's right arm, releasing the liquid within unhurriedly. Marine hid her face in her hands, she was deathly afraid of the pointy objects, and just thinking about it happening to her made her become lightheaded. She needed to sit down anywhere at this moment, or she would pass out right then and now, something she needed to avoid.

"Shadow… can ya get me a chair, ugh, my head."

Marine could only expect a slap across the face or some other type of harmful punishment from a person like Shadow, but instead she opened her eyes to see a wooden chair placed next to her. He was busy lengthening the metal chains on her extremities so that reaching the object wouldn't be such a difficult task, surprising the raccoon to an extent. But her worries focused on the hedgehog lying upon the table, who had begun to arise from the enforced slumber that he was in.

"…Huh?? What the …?"

"It's a special concoction, awakens the body, but takes away movement. It's just impeccably ripper, if I say so myself," He glanced over at the now furious raccoon who continued to stay in the chair, her face becoming boiling red.

"Shadow?? Why you?" Sonic face told the two others in the room how confused the blue blur was with the situation he was in.

"Why not?" He responded, a smirk growing in size upon his face. Knowing Marine had a dilemma with controlling her flaring temper, he turned around and just stared at her for a few seconds. She was scared and thought that she did something wrong, but then looked like she was going to break out of the chains any second. He scoffed, then chuckled, and made his way back to the table.

"Ya sick piece of trash!!!"

He froze, darting his pupils so he could see the seething raccoon, now standing up on her two feet, completely unaware of the power he could harness. A split second passed, and Marine couldn't even believe her eyes when she saw him blank in front of her, his hand pressing her already injured wrists against the wall. His breath was warm, but fierce as he stalked the raccoon, who wore the same expression.

He pressed his entire body up against her, sweat forming from the heat they generated upon their skin touching. His face rose down to meet hers, and their eyes were mere inches apart now as well as being at equilibrium.

"You wouldn't dare…"

Soon even his own forehead was pressed against hers, his eyes staring into the pools of cerulean that were her own. She could say as many myriad times that she hated Shadow, but there was this small part of her. And this part still had a soft spot, a love for the mysterious hedgehog, even though he had taken her here as a hostage.

"Yikes, Shadow, lemme go!"

Ebony hands were just driving her wrists into the wall, his face showing a sick liking of her pain. She gritted her teeth, trying desperately not to give into his demands even though it felt like her small wrists were going to fracture under the pressure.

"Hey faker, leave the girl alone!" the other voice in the room shouted out, seemingly forgetting that he was immobile on a table.

Sounds of clanking metal could be heard as Shadow released his grip and let her go, the raccoons body falling in a frightened, weakened heap on the floor. Her wrists felt as if they were on fire, cuts and scrapes dotting them from the jagged wall they were pressed up against.

Meanwhile Shadow walked over to a small machine, which looked like nothing more than a black box with two inch sized buttons. He palmed the remote sized box in his hands, the wires leading up towards the very ones attached to Sonic's head.

"Ever have Shock therapy Sonic?" He threatened, an index finger gently nudging the top of the on button, having no hesitation to push it.

"Nope, and I think you better take your hand off that button if you know what's good for you."

Shadow smiled yet again in delight to his comments, "Hmm… wrong answer."

"Shadow NO!!" Marine screamed in desperation

But it was indeed too late, as volts of electricity were rocketed through the wires, into the head and rest of the hedgehog's body. Sonic could easily feel the excruciating pain pulsing through every cell in his body, feeling as if they were going to explode. His eyes were squeezing shut to the point where it seemed like they were going to split. Shadow watched as the muscles of the cobalt hedgehog tightened up and made him nearly break the straps that were holding him down.

To Sonic's surprise however, the shocking subsided rather quickly, but leaving quite a bit of damage in its wake. His once bright blue fur now had scattered char marks and burns, and pain continued to throb through him though the power had been turned off. Shadow loomed over him, he noticed his rival wearing a sickening smile or approval of his pain, and he ever so wanted to hurt him right now.

"So… are you going to comprehend, or will I have to turn this up a notch?"

Sonic continued to breathe heavily from the shocking, every breath causing his some sort of pain. But he did finally come to his senses that maybe it wasn't a bad idea to listen to Shadow's demands.

"I'll… listen, what do you want?"

He was looking dead into Sonic's eyes, for Shadow sought after getting him intimidated so he would tell him the information he needed.

"The emeralds, where are they?" A demanding finger was pushed into his chest, and the cobalt hedgehog knew that Shadow did not want an "I don't know" or a "not sure," for he insisted on an answer now.

"Well?"

Beads of hot sweat dotted the brow and face of the hedgehog as he lied motionless on the operation style table. He did not actually have any clue, however he did know that Tails had 2 emeralds in his possession, but onto where he put them is a mystery that even Sonic could not decipher. Thoughts raced through his head, should he lie to a person of equal strength, and also to mention that he was in control. Or should he reveal that his deceased buddy once held two in an undisclosed location?

He just happened to choose the way that would eventually cause him pain.

"I'm not telling you."

The hedgehog before him just let out a warm, unforgiving chuckle that filled and echoed throughout the room. And once again, he strode towards the black colored box that lay idle upon the counter, his hands gripping the side of it, and carrying it around the room.

"Sonic Sonic Sonic, you idiocy is too easy to see sometimes, but at least you make up for it with dignity for yourself.

I don't like dignity."

And with that he cranked up the device to an elevated setting, and struck the on button yet again. Sonic immediately jerked his entire body toward the ceiling, his muscles locking in place from the unbearable pain he was experiencing.

"Had enough yet?" He shouted into the ears of the blue blur.

Sonic, despite the immense load of pain he was feeling, found the impeccable courage to spit into the face of Shadow, which wasn't the brightest idea to do in the first sense. He responded with a swift punch across his rivals' face, knocking the hedgehog nearly out of consciousness by the sheer force.

"Stop it!! Ya sick devil's child!" Marine howled into the air, she was shrieking and crying not due to her own pain an anguish, but to the inexplicable sight of watching Sonic be tortured.

He responded with a click of the lower button on the remote, shutting off the flow of electricity to the machine, sending Sonic's body lowering down to a flat position. In and out of consciousness is what he was experiencing now, his level of pain so great where it was almost unbearable.

"The, emeralds. In Tails home… somewhere."

Shadow watched as the hero's eyes closed, and his head lay limp upon the headrest. Known already was that he was just either drained of energy, or just simply out cold. But Shadow had already established that Eggman didn't want him dead, no, that would be considered an absolute waste to a useful individual.

Now began Shadow's new mission, get the 7 emeralds, and then he'd really be unstoppable.

…

For me to be stunned would be considered an understatement.

That was _not_ just Tails that was standing right in front of me very eyes, it had to be some figment of my imagination. At least I just hoped it was, as the last thing I and anyone else needed was for me to be a mental case. This couldn't happen now, not when everybody, even Sonic, was counting on me and my seemingly unlimited determination to lead our own forces.

Now I had made me way home, and right to the bathroom, dropping my purse next to the couch and throwing my coat onto an armchair. I turned on the faucet, but made sure the water was bitterly cold as I needed something to wake me up. I dunked my entire face into the basin, not giving a hoot whether or not water spilled onto the floor. I could just mop it up later.

It did work to an extent, as I felt my entire face become practically numbed, but awakened. It also reminded me that I forgot to take my vitamins, the doctor I had after the disease had given me a special kind just for me. I never realized how malnourished became until I asked Sonic once about it, his description really shocking me as I never knew that it became that bad.

I opened the cabinet and pulled out the rather large bottle, but freaked upon closing it.

There behind me, was Mr. Miles Prower yet again. Only this time I was scared like before.

"Okay, are you going to continue to follow me or what?"

He shrugged, smiling though even already knowing that I was demanding why he was still around.

"I'm not following you, I am you."

Yes, I was completely and utterly confused by now if you haven't already guessed so.

"Wait… are you suppose to be my conscience or something?"

"You could say that… here follow me."

The what I assumed was figment of my imagination version of Tails lead my out of my home, I even completely forgot about my face being wet.

He kept quiet and to himself, I thought it seemed awful odd, but then again it was my own mind… right?

We finally arrived at his home, it had a eerie sort of silence with nobody in it. I was still used to the sounds of machinery and tools, and that same fox wearing a big smile, a bit of grease or oil on his fur. Now it was just missing that sort of presence, the one that used to welcome anybody who came in.

"There is something I have to show you. Come."

We walked through the open front door that blew open and closed along with the breeze, my steps making the only sound that radiated all through the abandon home. In front of me, Tails was keeping focused on showing me something, though I had no clue what it was or what it was for. His footsteps failed to create any noise at all, something that could use to further prove the fact that he was within my mind.

He led me up the now creaky staircase of once was his home, and still is to a sense, although he isn't in it anymore. Everything within it was still, Sonic and I made a promise to one another that we would keep Tails home in top shape, meaning all the items that he had in whatever place, would stay there. It was like we believed that his spirit or something of the such still lived in the home.

He walked into his room, but something told me that I wasn't allowed to go in without permission from Tails, even if it was my own mind. I saw a face next to me as I was leaning against the wall opposite from his room, and it was his, making me jump out of my skin a bit.

"I never said you couldn't come in." He smiled, and lead me into his room.

Surprisingly, I forgot that his room just happened to be just sort of normal if anything. There was your typical bed, dressers, a closet, and other sorts of things that you would expect in a bedroom. He also had an adjoining bathroom too, I always wanted something like that.

He got down so he was on his knees, and began searching beneath his bed for a certain item. I wasn't sure what it was, but I was guessing that it could come into use during the invasion.

I was right.

The first thing I saw was what looked to be a bamboo sort of thing. Soon I realized that this thing was a sword case, but not just any sort of sword.

"You know what this is right?" He asked.

"It's a samurai sword I think right?"

Tails grinned at me while carefully removing the weapon from it's case while it made a slicing noise.

"Yep. I got this as a present from Sonic on my 10th birthday. He never did tell me where he found it, and to this day I still don't have an answer to this question.

It still is one of my favorite gifts to this day."

I watched as he gripped the impressive looking sword in his furry hands, and also noticed two symbols etched on the side of the metal. They looked to be Japanese I guessed, although I had no clue.

"What to the symbols mean?" I directed towards the two markings on the swords side.

"Dignity, and this is why I'm giving it to you."

He handed me the weapon, to which I gently took from his hand. It was very easy to hold, and I even waved it around a bit. The way it moved when I attempted as swinging it really looked cool, almost as if I were cutting air.

"Tails this is amazing! I never handled on of these before."

"You'll need training though. Go see Espio, he will be able to teach you everything you know.

And remember what the sword means."

I had heard everything he had said to me, but was focusing on the sword itself while he was speaking. When I turned my head up, I saw that he had already either left, or disappeared like before at the train station.

I had to take this home first, this was going to be my secret for the time being.

…

**Well… I think this was a success, how about you? XD**

**Please review, and I'm really sorry for taking so long.**


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